Friday’s job report doesn’t look promising

Employment still bedevils housing, could delay rate hikes

The ADP jobs preview is calling for a weak, lower-than-200,000 report from Census Bureau on Friday, and other pre-employment situation reports seem to support that.

ADP sees private payrolls rising 190,000 which is on the lowest end of analyst estimates. ADP is revising down its July call even further lower and farther away from the government's initial reading, to 177,000 versus ADP's initial call for 185,000.

The government's private payroll reading was 210,000 in July and is expected to come in at 211,000 in August.

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Given the state of concerns over employment and the broader economy, including home sales, talk is going to move to a December rather than September rate hike by the Federal Open Market Committee.

Meanwhile, initial jobless claims moved up this week. Initial claims rose 12,000 in the August 29 week to 282,000, the highest reading since early July.

The 4-week average, up 3,250 to 275,500, is at its highest level since the middle of July and is trending more than 5,000 above the month-ago comparison.

According to today’s Challenger Job-Cut report, lay-off announcements, at 41,186, were moderate in August and far lower than the 105,696 in July which was skewed higher by a massive Army cutback.